Digital Natives

Not all young people today are digital natives. Many born after roughly 1980 are part of this worldwide phenomenon, though. The common characteristic of digital natives is not so much their age, but the way they interact with technology, information and each other. The Digital Native Wiki has a detailed discussion.

'Are kids different because of digital media?' asks this video from the MacArthur foundation below. The answer seems to be that yes, both children and parents perceive a significant generation gap caused by digital media. What exactly that means, beyond this sense of mutual disconnect, is only slowly being discovered.

While Digital natives are presented with unprecedented opportunities for creativity, they also face unique challenges, such as questions of safety and identity or information overload. The growing divide between the established educational system and digital culture presents a daily challenge for many students today. According to Prensky, digital natives think differently and quasi speak a different language than their digital immigrant teachers.

"[...], it is very likely that our students’ brains have physically changed - and are different from ours - as a result of how they grew up."
Mark Prensky. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. From On the Horizon (NCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5, October 2001). Web. June 24, 2010.

Some specific examples of how digital immigrants differ from digital natives:

Digital immigrants	Digital natives
prefer to learn (and teach) step by step, tackle tasks and receive information individually	prefer to have random access to information, multitask and receive information through multiple channels
prefer serious work	prefer games
prefer a slower speed in receiving and processing information	prefer a fast speed in receiving and processing information
prefer to work individually	prefer to share and collaborate

For more, take a look at this excerpt of Don Tapscott's Grown up digital in this blogpost.

The proposed path to reach digital natives in the classroom is through the use of digital technology. While it is the river that divides the generations, it's also widely seen as the only bridge. Schools don't have to change their curricula as much as they have to adapt the delivery to hook into the learning channels of today's students.

Contrasting Prensky's view, Dave White proposes the terms digital resident and digital visitor. Read his post and the ensuing discussion here.